Relational Cities: Melbourne Centre for Cities Symposium

“Relational Cities” is an exploration of relational thinking in uncertain times for urban research and practice. Aligning with recent shifts in urban studies research towards immersion and advancing embodied forms of knowing and working, researchers from the Melbourne Centre for Cities are examining the urban environment with a focus on the affective, multi-sensory, and more-than-human worlds which we inhabit.

Uncertainty defines our times. From career trajectories to global geopolitics and to dwelling and place, urban researchers are faced with challenges that can only be tackled by building community and connection to the life, places, and ideas that sustain us. As a community of researchers, we have developed a symposium that foregrounds ways of working collaboratively and creatively across disciplines and practices of urban research.

The symposium “Relational Cities” proposes three themes of relation building in uncertain times: place, justice and networks. These will be reflected in panel discussions, walks, and creative sessions, to explore how we build relations to place, how we engage for justice, and how we construct networks of solidarity in urban research.

Cities are places that are experienced, always becoming, and relational, and our Symposium program will do the same. Collaborative activities (re)turn to embodied approaches of walking, drawing and scribing, with the aim of situating and attuning to the affective worlds around and among us.

This year's Symposium will also feature participation from our 2026 Horizons program cohort.

For further details – including the program and speakers – please see the Melbourne Centre for Cities website.

If you have any questions related to the Symposium, please contact connected-cities@unimelb.edu.au.